Here we go again--another Colombian, who we did not know before our trip, who gave up a day to be our tour guide. This time, the Colombian was the sister of CC's avocational Spanish teacher in Atlanta. He sent the teacher a message, merely asking her for suggestions of tourist... Continue reading

Ordinarily, a person (me) would not expect a friend of a friend to take a day off work, hire a translator and take you wherever you wanted to go. Colombia is not an ordinary country, nor are its natives. My friend of friend is a Colombian registered dietitian (Patricia) and... Continue reading

I'm big on rewarding myself for "being brave, or doing the right thing or just feeling like I need a reward." The latest one was a reward/milestone trip. Last February through June, I spent a great deal of time recovering from surgery, radiation and the ravages that those entities place... Continue reading

After an absence of many months, the Menu Planner is back. Since my last blog post, I've been recovering from my bout with The Annoyance, traveling, cooking many new recipes for my column and generally enjoying life as it is for me now, happy to be alive and well. Cancer... Continue reading

Three days post surgery, CC became ill with a serious respiratory ailment that lingered for over two weeks. You got the picture: instead of being the recipient of attention from my care-giving husband, I became The Nurse, Cook and general Care-Giver for both of us. He, who was supposed to... Continue reading

Never, ever do you want to get the phone call that says "it's cancer." As one friend said, "it's a big club that no one wants to be in." Nevertheless, the call came sometime in mid February after a series of tests to rule out the possibility. "Immediately make an... Continue reading

Frank Buda is one of or the most generous guys I know (and, we share the same birthday and neither one of us is talking about what year!). Twice a year he hosts a big party for his friends of which he has many. We are so lucky to be... Continue reading

Had this evening not happened to us I would never have believed it. We'd heard about and wanted to go to Top Flr in Midtown, Atlanta for a long time. This was the night--our first and last visit. We arrived on time at 8 and were seated quickly. Good. After... Continue reading

No one could believe it when I said I wanted to go Glamping for my birthday this year. First, they said "what the heck is Glamping?" Then, after I explained they said "you've got to be kidding. You? Glamping?Have you lost your mind?" You see, Glamping is a combination of... Continue reading

Dear friends hosted a small New Year's Eve gathering at their downtown Atlanta high-rise condo. The hosts always do an outstanding job of creating a fun party with interesting guests, good food, lively music and great martinis and other beverages. For a previous party, they did all the food and... Continue reading

This time of year is when friends and groups gather to show off their fine cooking and come together to enjoy each other's company. Both of us belong to book clubs, each one with different personalities (just like the two of us!). Added to his book club festivities this year... Continue reading

What a glorious weekend for this stuff-your-face, cooking-demo, entertainment event. We live right next door to the the festival which causes some inconvenience on our part...especially the Friday night loud music, but enough about me. Our passes entitled us to 10 food tickets each (you can buy more to extend... Continue reading

It had been a year plus since our trip to the Highlands, NC area. This time it was with our Dallas,Texas, family. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know what the weather has been in Dallas and other parts of Texas and Oklahoma this summer. Needless to say,... Continue reading

The organization, Share Our Strength wants to eliminate hungry children in America. Hungry children are one of the primary targets of the organization. One in 4 children wakes up everyday not knowing if they will have enough to eat. Most of us can't imagine such a thing. The Great American... Continue reading

Air travel and all of its hassles doesn't get in the way of Kay Goodwin having a good time. Kay's from Austin, Texas, and traveled from her home to visit Atlanta and her daughter, Bobbi. We're often lucky to see Kay when she visits, althought Kay and her daughter have... Continue reading

After a hiatus from my blog (pure laziness + vacation) I decided I'd better get busy and let you know I'm still here, testing recipes. (Since we "spoke" I've completed 16 years of writing the "7-Day Menu Planner" which is about 5840 dinners. Sometimes, I'd rather eat out!) Last night... Continue reading

Practically every evening (Sun-Thurs) I'm testing a recipe. (The kitchen is usually closed Friday and Saturday nights for dinner out.) I do the testing in the evening because it's what we eat for dinner in real time. Most of my testing is 2 months ahead of when the "7-Day Menu... Continue reading

Being the kind of person who can't take "no" for an answer, I had to come to terms with the undone anniversary chicken. Or did I? The light bulb come on and I decided I could rescue those bird thighs by repurposing them into Dijon Baked Chicken. Here's how I... Continue reading

Our anniversay came on a Monday this year which for us is not a night-on-the-town kind of night. Oh yes, we did celebrate with several nights of dining out. But....then the real day arrived and I wanted to do something besides the same ole, same ole. What to do? I... Continue reading

With food prices ever-increasing with no sign of that changing anytime soon, I'm always looking for something new, different and reasonably priced to add to menus in my column, the "7-Day Menu Planner." As much as I love salmon, tilapia, tuna, halibut, scallops and shrimp and other such water-beings for... Continue reading

In the whole universe there are a lot of people who love bargains. In that ranking, I must be close to the top 10%. I find; I buy and I worry (what you-know-who will say). Why do I worry if it's a really great bargain? Because he cares about dishes,... Continue reading

I consider it a good quality when a person can laugh at herself. I seem to do it alot, meaning that I'm often doing something worthy of a laugh-at-myself moment. Eg, something stupid. During a big summer storm last week, we lost power right around dinner prep time. Of course,... Continue reading

One of my favorite company entrees is pork tenderoin. The price is usually affordable for a special meal, it's easy to cook and has a good flavor if it's not over-cooked. It's perfectly fine to show some "pink" when it goes to the table. No longer does pork require "battleship... Continue reading

I do love chef-prepared food. Preparing a dish from a chef-recipe is not quite as much fun. I'd enjoyed this salmon recipe presented by Chef Bill Briwa when I was at the CIA's west coast campus in Napa and it looked easy enough for a home-cook. All this has led... Continue reading

On Sunday's, I'm not usually enthusiastic about testing recipes even though I often must test anyway. Yesterday, I found a large container of bow tie pasta from a previous testing earlier in the week, looming in the refrigerator! What do to? Shrimp is always an easy protein and the cleaned... Continue reading